Hi. Just wondering whether ye think this is a programme in keeping with 5/3/1. I have put this together based on Jim’s books and on articles I have read from Jim.

I have taken a 2 day a week template that I found from Jim elsewhere that goes like this -
week 1 - Day one Squat 531 + assistance.
Day two Bench 531 + assistance
week 2 - Day one Deadlift 531 + assistance
Day two Press 531 + assistance.

I like to do endurance events from time to time. Nothing major, just relatively short distance runs (5 - 10k), duathlons, triathlons, stuff like that. On weeks where I have done one of these and could benefit from the recovery, I will just do two days of lifting. However, on weeks where I have nothing on, I add a third lifting day, based on an article I found from Jim about training around a busy lifestyle. Here he advised a sort of optional extra day. I add this in. For me it is a sort of full body dynamic effort/ repetition hybrid type day.

I like the way that this works for me. I get my heavy lower body stuff done early in the week, which means that any endurance work I do won’t affect a second lower body day. I like the third optional day. The assistance work I do for the two 531 days is targeted against specific upper and lower body weaknesses I have, the posterior chain and the back and shoulders.

I had thought of doing a defranco type template where I would alternate the main lifts a bit, as in this cycle I would do bench and squat, and then after one cycle or a few cycles, I would switch these to deadlift and press. But then I saw Jim advising on the above template with the lifts alternating each week in a longer training cycle. This seems better?

What do you guys think? Obviously this is not a standard 531 approach, but is it something that could work? My main goals are modest strength gains and a good general level of conditioning. A major priority for me would be to get any heavy lower body stuff out of the way early in the training week as I have club feet and endurance work can often leave my ankles tight and unable to really do any more heavy stuff later in the week. I can manage dynamic lower body on day 3. I have done more conventional 531 templates, but my performance on the second lower body day was always compromised, and squatting form was often difficult.

True, haha. It varies. Often works out at around one per month or so. I don’t do very long distances though. My ankles are the limiting factor as I have clubbed feet. If I do even a short, light 20 minute jog, I wouldn’t be able to do great squats or deadlifts later in the week because of stiffness in the ankles making correct form a nightmare. So, you might suggest, I could drop the jogging. But, I do really enjoy it, and whilst it might cause short term issues for my ankles, long term it actually strengthens them and I have less day to day trouble with them. It’s hard to explain I guess. When i have dropped it in the past I’ve ended up having soreness and tightness in the ankles from nothing.
Whatever lifting template I would use I would try to keep it to a three day week, and would try to have the heavy lower body stuff done early in the week, usually on day one. That’s the way I try to do it. But it can be hard to find a template to work like that.

I’m a walking example of why people should work towards a more specific goal! But I just enjoy doing too much. I’m okay with everything being suboptimal as a result. I just want to make everything as optimally suboptimal as I can, haha.